Nothing Better Than The End
by Listae
Summary: "Yeah, alright, I suppose he does love you, but that doesn't make you any less insane, dude!" I growl. "Of course not! Come on, Dean – it's the end of the world and I've been broken and I have fallen in all the ways possible, of course I'm insane!" Cas chuckles and I can't help but think how human this Cas really is and yet how similar he is to Castiel I know. End!verse, Destiel


**Hi everyone! It's been a while since I've started reading and writing destiel now and through all this time I've read enough 'the end' stories to seriously hurt my soul. There are bleak ones, angry ones, cruel ones, dejected ones and the ones that get to me the most - hopeless ones. **

**For a long time I couldn't even think about writing 'the end' story simply because I liked both Dean and Cas too much to portray them the way they were in that horrible universe. Don't get me wrong, I still love them, but I think canon kind of helped me to start looking at them differently and I finally thought I could probably try writing 'the end'.**

**Mind you, I still don't want it to be hopeless, so perhaps this will not be the bleakest story you have ever read :) Besides, if I wait any longer 2014 won't even be the future, hehe :) It is also almost done, I think I'm a chapter short from finishing it, so I'll be posting fairly regularly, even though my studies are hectic right now...**

**Okay, now the official part:**

**Pairing: 2014!Dean/2014!Cas, 2014!Dean/others (non-explicit), 2014!Cas/others (non-explicit)**

**Warnings: Spoilers to "The End", M/M explicit sexuality, language, violence, character death**

**Rating: Mature**

**Word Count: ~19K, but I''m a chapter short, so will be up to 25K**

**Disclaimer: don't own SPN**

**Enough of my ramblings, enjoy and let me know what you think.**

**L.**

"Shit, shit, shit, shit! That goddamn pain in the ass sonofabitch!" I all but growl. I fucking hate angels. Seriously, those emotionally impaired, freakin' righteous idiots with superiority complex the size of the moon! Sure, there's also Cas, but he's a weirdo of the family. All the rest are just ginormous, colossal dicks.

I look around. Right, so where the hell am I? What the hell is happening? I'm still in the motel room, but it looks different. The window is smashed and it looks as if… As if it hasn't been used in quite a while, to put it mildly. Freakin' angels, I'm sure of it.

I walk outside the motel, and honestly, I'm startled by the sight in front of me. The whole damn city looks… destroyed. There's a scuffling noise in the alley and I walk towards it. A little girl is crouching there. It's a bit dark, but from what I see she's not looking mint. She's dirty and battered and she's dragging her even worse looking teddy. For fuck's sake, she is seriously looking like that creepy Ring kid. Creepy kids always gave me the willies.

"Little girl! Little girl!" I shout out stupidly, but she continues ignoring me, dragging her battered toy. "Are you hurt?"

She lifts her head and I see she is hurt, the blood is trickling down her chin.

"You know the not-talking thing is kind of creepy, right?" I manage, but then she shrieks and attacks me. I'm not fond of beating kids, seriously, but what am I suppose to do when a creepy horror flick kid runs at me with the shard of glass? I flatten her and as soon as I do I spot a sign on the wall. "Oh, crap."

Dammit, how could I have not seen it? Dammit, dammit, dammit!

CROATOAN

Of course that's when all hell breaks loose and before I know it I'm running from the herd of freakin' zombie lookalikes and the soldiers are shooting them as their boom box hollers the stupid rock'n'roll piece.

I manage to get away and hide, but dammit that was close. And most importantly – what the actual fuck?!

It takes me almost the entire day to get out of the city. I have to move quietly, always in shadows, because the only gun I have is a piece of pipe I found and from what I remember blunt objects don't really work all that well on the infected. I tried praying to Cas, but he's either gone awol again or… No, I don't want to think about that, Cas is a tough sonofabitch, even if he looks like a nerdy tax accountant most of the time. I remember his 'I'm about to smite you' face – the dude's pretty awesome, he's got to be okay.

When I finally reach the edge of the city, I see there's a fence stretched as far as I can see in both directions. I spot a sign on it and go closer to read it. It takes me couple of moments to process what I see until I mutter. "August first, 2014."

Okay, so it's back to the future crap then. 2014 and the world is apparently a croatoan zombieland. Awesome!

"Cas, goddamnit! If you're anywhere there – get your feathery ass down here!" I groan, but of course he doesn't show up. Sometimes he's a dick too.

I find the weakest point of the fence and slide under it. Okay, so I should be in no croatoan zone, but assuming rarely got me anywhere good, so I'll just have to be on a look out. And I really need to get a ride and a gun, soon. As in now.

Conveniently, too conveniently perhaps, the first car I try is not only working but has enough gas to get me to Bobby's. I shrug – never the one to look the freakin' horse in the mouth. I should have, I suppose, because as soon as I hit the road, I hear a distinctly familiar and seriously hated voice.

"Croatoan pandemic reaches Australia." Zachariah reads. I jump and swear under my breath.

"The head of dicks himself. Of course, who else could it be?!"

"Ah, Dean, charming as ever." He nods at me and continues reading. "President Palin defends bombing Huston."

"What the hell do you want? What's with back to the future crap?" I hiss at him.

"All in good time. I want you to see what your stupid, stubborn and pigheaded choices will bring to this world you claim you're trying to protect."

"Okay, well, good, great. You have had your jollies. Now send me back, you sonofabitch."

"Oh, but no, no, no. This was hardly what I wanted you to see. Why don't you stew in all this a little bit? Marinate."

"Marinate?" I stare at him. What a colossal dick! "I get it – if I don't agree to be Michael's best tux – this is what will happen? Is that it? I get it. Now bring me back!"

"Are you ready to say yes?" He asks smirking.

"Nah." I shrug. "And it ain't gonna change."

"Dean, Dean, Dean… I hoped you had it in you, the grain of sanity at least. Oh well, that's nothing a three day getaway can't fix, now is it? Let's make it a proper holiday to the end of the world. Enjoy!"

With all too familiar rustling of feathers he disappears and I curse again. So the end of the world? Because I said no? Well that's a comforting thought. Dammit…

It takes me four hours to get to Bobby's. Four hours of the scenery that any movie maker would kill for. The devastation and the destruction worthy of the bleariest Night Shyamalan creations.

Even before I come in Bobby's house, I know he's not there. The place looks abandoned as everything else in this god forsaken place. The door is open so I come in and look around. Almost instantly I see Bobby's wheelchair lying on the floor. I lift it up and I can see three bullet holes smeared with long ago dried blood. I curse again and it makes it feel a bit less eerie. I go to his hiding place and pull it open. Thankfully his journal is still there. I leaf through it trying to get some clues as to where Sam or maybe future me could be. All I find is a photo of three guys I've never seen, Bobby in a wheelchair and… Cas. They are all holding guns, all serious and distant. Bobby has always been a grumpy old bastard, so the look is not so surprising on him, but Cas… He's not in his stupid trench coat I've grown used to see him in. He's wearing clothes that could as well be mine – jeans and boots and flannel. He looks tired and he's sure as hell not angel fresh. One of his hands is on Bobby's shoulder, the other clutching a shotgun. I flip the photo over and there's caption written in Bobby's messy scrawl: Camp Chitaqua, 2013.

"Cas, goddamnit! I'm freakin' praying to you, get down here!" I mutter, but there's no rustle of feathers and he doesn't pop up right in my face. Fuck it, never thought I could find myself actually wishing for his crazy quirks. This place or time or whatever the hell it is, is getting to me and not in a good way.

I put the photo in the back pocket of my jeans and briefly wonder who are the other guys in it and why me and Sammy are not there. I don't have much time though – it'll take me another three hours to get to Camp Chitaqua and I really want to be there before the dawn.

The drive to the camp actually took me almost six hours – I had to change the cars because it's the freakin' end of the world and gas stations no longer work 24/7. From the looks of it, they don't work at all. On my fifth attempt I found a minivan that did have some gas in it. Apparently, in the end of the world I'm freakin' soccer mom. Anyway, I'm finally at the camp. I leave the car half a mile to the camp. I don't really know what to expect – the picture was taken a year ago, I can literally find anything there. So I decide to do a little bit of scouting around.

The first thing I see after having dodged being spotted by the guard is my baby. Except it can't really be her! How could anyone let this happen to her? She's sitting on all rims, rusty and so damned sad. She's still beautiful, if you know how to look at her, but there's an air of desperation about her. Dammit!

I sneak around her further to the camp. There are quite a few cabins – twenty, maybe even thirty – and one bigger house. I see couple of people in the camp and from what I can tell they are guards, mostly. I look around. There are few trucks at the far end of the camp and a building that looks a lot like storage unit. If I was running this place that's where the supplies and the guns would be held. There's also guard at the door so maybe I'm not that far off. I'm about to sneak towards there when I hear a flick of the lighter too close to me. I spun around to see where the sound came from and I'm momentarily relieved that I'm still in the shadows. The lighter is flicked again and I see the spark in front of the nearest cabin to me. I freeze. The man there flicks it the third time and this time it lights. It takes me a moment to process what I'm seeing before I sag with relief. My head can't wrap itself around the sight, but it does at the very least acknowledge that it's Cas lighting the cigarette. He's sitting in front of the cabin, leaning against the wall of it. It takes me another moment to realize he's not alone – there's a woman lying next to him, her head in his lap. Cas' fingers tread her hair lightly and she chuckles as he drags in a smoke and then passes the death stick to her. I think I'm having an out of body experience, because seriously – what the fuck is that?!

"Cas." I mutter and I step out of the shadows and start walking to him. He snaps his head up, but it's too dark for me to see him properly in the distance. What I do see is him tensing up for a second before he looks down at the chick in his lap.

"You've got to go, June." He tells her quietly and then chuckles. Yes, he actually chuckles and fuck it if I ever even heard him chuckle before! "Our fearless leader seems to request the audience."

I can hear the woman sigh as she pushes the butt of the cigarette back into Cas' fingers.

"The leader's got to come first." She laughs standing up. I'm not proud to admit, but I think my jaw actually hits the ground when she bends to kiss Cas and he not only doesn't flinch or pull back, but actually shoves his tongue into her mouth. His tongue! The guy who freaked out royally at the whorehouse three days ago! Again – what the fuck is happening?!

"Cas…" I mutter again when she leaves. "Dammit Cas, I'm so fucking glad you're here!"

He looks at me for a second and then does his crazy head tilt thing.

"You're not Dean." He says finally. There's no worry or anything in his voice, he's just stating the fact. "Not 'now Dean' anyway. Not the fearless leader."

"What? No. Yeah. I mean, yes, I'm not from here or not from now. Whatever." I shake my head. This crap is confusing.

"Zachariah?" He asks indifferently.

"Yeah, the dick found me and threw me here!"

"So when are you from?" He asks and lights another cigarette.

"End of 2009." I tell him, but my eyes are fixed on the death stick. "Since when do you smoke?"

"Beginning of 2014." He laughs. "Want one?"

"Okay, just cut the crap, man! What the hell? I prayed to you, why didn't you come? No, you know what, scratch that. Just strap your wings on and get me back to my time." I growl at him. This is getting ridiculous.

Cas looks at me for few seconds and then starts laughing. It's not a nice laughter, it's bitter and angry and desperate, but he laughs and laughs and I just don't have it in me to make him stop. When he finally gets hold of himself he croaks.

"The only prayers I get these days are personally delivered. And the wings…" He stands up, raises his arms above his head and entwines his fingers. He stretches and twists working the kinks out and as his shirt lifts to reveal the stretch of skin at his waist I notice how thin he is. I mean, sure, behind all the layers he's used to wearing you can't really judge, but the guy in front of me only wears a thin shirt and slacks and as he stretches I notice just how thin he is. He's all muscles – lean and hard, but he's just too damn skinny. I tear my eyes off his skin and meet his gaze again. He's looking at me steadily, small smirk on his lips. I can see he's about to say something and for no apparent reason I feel freakin' uncomfortable. He's not even in my space, what the hell do I have to feel flushed about? Anyway, before he says anything, I hear a voice that shoots me back to the out of body experience mode.

"What the fuck Cas? Who's that? How did you…" My own voice bellows behind me and even before I spun around I notice how Cas' shoulders sag a little. He shakes out of it in a second though, because the next thing I hear while staring in my own eyes is his smirking voice.

"Well hello, Leader! Look whom cat dragged in." He pauses and I stare myself in the face. "Not as much cat as Zachariah though… Even I'm not high enough to confuse Zach with the feline."

"Shut the fuck up!" The version of me snaps at him. "What the hell is this? Did you at least check?"

He grabs my arm and I know what's gonna happen next. Before I get the chance to shove him off me, he slides a silver knife over my arm. I hiss.

"Get off me!" I yell, but he grabs my arm again and pours what I assume is holy water on me. "Happy?"

"Not particularly." He answers narrowing his eyes at me. "What are you?"

"Dean, meet our fearless leader." I hear Cas laugh. "Leader, Dean of airy 2009. I'll let you two get reacquainted."

I look around to see him climb slowly up the stairs of what I suppose is his cabin. On the top step he turns back and locks his gaze with the other me.

"And no, I didn't check." He drawls. "I can recognize you without making you bleed."

They stare at each other for a few moments longer and suddenly I realize what the fuss was all about. This staring is freaky! Finally, Cas turns around and enters his cabin.

"So, 2009?" The other me asks. "What the hell's that about?"

"The head of dicks, Zach, got to me. He beamed me here. Said I've got to see it for myself. Dammit, what the hell happened here?"

"Lucifer." He said.

"Yeah, but seriously, what the hell? Where are the angels? Why aren't they fighting it?"

"The angels?" He sneered and his eyes flicked to the doorway of Cas' cabin. "That pathetic excuse for a man is what's left of your precious angels."

I stare at him trying to process what he said. Did he really… What? Was he talking about Cas? No.

"What?" I finally croak.

"In your time he's still Castiel, isn't he?" He smirks. "It's been so long… He's not an angel anymore. The angels left. They pulled up the ladder and disappeared and all we're left with is this fallen junkie and Lucifer."

"He's still Cas." I growl and he laughs bitterly. Seriously, never thought I'd be the one to say this, but dammit, I'm a dick! "And what the hell happened? He stayed behind? Or did they cast him out?"

"The idiot stayed."

"You know what – you suck!" I snap, because seriously, this dick is getting to me. "What's wrong with you? Cas is our friend! He's family!"

"Is he now?" The dick smirks. "How 'bout this – I gotta go on patrol and I don't want anyone to see you. I have a camp full of scared people and the least they need is a live recap of parent trap. So why don't you stay with your dear friend Cas for couple of days. See for yourself, so to say."

"I'm not gonna sit tight. What use of me being here if I spend the time locked up? And where the hell is Sammy? I wanna talk to him."

As soon as I say Sam's name, I can see it in the other me's face – the pain and the guilt. I've seen it more than enough times in the mirror.

"We lost Sam." He finally mutters. "Detroit. It was destroyed and Sammy was there."

"No…" I growl. No, no, no… I won't let this happen, dammit. I won't let this happen!

"Why don't you ask your friend tell you all about it?" He asks then. "And don't be seen. And if you're seen, pretend you're me. Properly."

"So, I should be a proper dick?" I can't stop myself from asking, but the other me doesn't bother answering, he just turns and strides away.


End file.
